Note To Readers On My Israel-Palestine Trip
A note to readers here:
I was impressed by the sheer diversity of opinion in response to my Israel-Palestine piece. Previously, I had caught a lot of heat from pro-Israel members of my audience for not strongly advocating for their side, but now I am being asked some tough questions by what appears to be a very vocal pro-Palestinian faction of my audience in the comments below!
As a podcaster and journalist, I like to see this. It makes me less vulnerable to audience capture and means no matter which side I take, it will piss off a large segment of my audience. I’m still collecting my thoughts on this expansive tour and will report back with more substantive thoughts soon.
For now, I will highlight one comment by independent journalist Lee Fang - a friend of mine - which relates to one major concern my readers have expressed (“Are you just gonna shill for Israel now??”):
If you're there, it is a very good idea to listen and ask questions with your hosts, and also to spend as much time as possible far away from your host org and seek dissenting viewpoints and other perspectives. I spent a week in Israel with a Israeli gov-aligned group, several days with independent journalists, and another 4 days traveling the West Bank with an organization that documents human rights abuses. The differences I saw were night and day. I highly recommend that if you're there, seek as many alternative viewpoints as possible and do not just stay with a single agenda-driven journalist junket.
I didn’t consult with Lee before the trip but in essence this is exactly what I did!
I spent substantial time with Israeli government-aligned people but also went to the West Bank and heard the other perspective, which is crucial to do in order to understand this convoluted conflict.
Podcast debriefing my trip coming soon!
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That getting both sides' perspectives is key. On so many issues, people lazily get the other side's perspective from their own side, which is always distorted. Bravo!
I would recommend visiting other countries in the region as well. Otherwise, you may assume that certain things are defined by the conflict but they might be not.